Gabriel Wick | New York University (original) (raw)
Papers by Gabriel Wick
A Cultural History of Memory in the Eighteenth Century, 2020
Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes
An overview of Hubert Robert's landscape design projects and a synopsis of the exhibition 'Hubert... more An overview of Hubert Robert's landscape design projects and a synopsis of the exhibition 'Hubert Robert et la fabrique des Jardins' at the château of La Roche-Guyon (09/09/17-11/26/17)
A later iteration of this article was published as "The Princesse de Monaco, Hubert Robert and th... more A later iteration of this article was published as "The Princesse de Monaco, Hubert Robert and the invention of the ‘Vieux château’ of Betz", Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes (2017)
This essay looks at the design and construction of an elaborate series of false medieval ruins -- the so-called 'Vieux-château' created for the Marie Catherine de Brignole-Sale, Princesse de Monaco (1736-1813) at her domaine of Betz (Oise) between 1782-1789. It considers the role of the landscape painter Hubert Robert and the architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart in its design and construction. It proposes that this elaborate medieval pastiche was intended to garner public sympathy after her romantic liaison with Louis V Joseph de Bourbon-Condé, Prince de Condé (1740-1818) had caused her to be expelled from court.
This essay considers how the built landscapes designed by the landscape painter Hubert Robert (17... more This essay considers how the built landscapes designed by the landscape painter Hubert Robert (1733-1808) served to define and legitimize the identities of his aristocratic clients and patrons. It considers the gardens of Ermenonville, Méréville, La Roche-Guyon, Betz and Mauperthuis.
This essay considers the important role played by tombs, contrived historical ruins and artefacts... more This essay considers the important role played by tombs, contrived historical ruins and artefacts in the landscape painter Hubert Robert's (1733-1808) landscape compositions for aristocratic patrons.
This essay forms part of a collective work that examines the history, evolution and usage of the ... more This essay forms part of a collective work that examines the history, evolution and usage of the domain of the Noailles family in Saint-Germain-en-Laye during the 18th century. The essay examines the role played by the landscape painter Hubert Robert (1733-1808) in the transformation of the vast gardens and the former picture gallery of this ducal residence. The gallery was transformed under Robert's guidance into a panoramic trompe-l'oeil representation of a landscape. The essay also looks at the links between this project for the Noailles and that of their kinsmen and political allies, the prince and princesse de Beauvau at their seat, the château du Val, whose gardens were also laid out by Robert.
Ce livre tente de reconstituer, grâce à ses textes et dessins, l’apparence du jardin paysager amé... more Ce livre tente de reconstituer, grâce à ses textes et dessins, l’apparence du jardin paysager aménagé par les La Rochefoucauld et leur cercle à la veille de la Révolution. Le projet du jardin anglais de la Roche-Guyon est marqué par les talents de la duchesse d’Enville, du duc Louis-Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld et du duc et de la duchesse de Chabot, mais aussi part des artistes et politiques comme Hubert Robert, l’abbé Delille, Thomas Jefferson, Condorcet, Turgot, Malesherbes, etc. Ce jardin ayant aujourd’hui en grande partie disparu sous une dense forêt, ce livre a été conçu comme un "guide de ses traces" dans lequel sont exhumés les vestiges de grottes, d’une immense cascade artificielle, d’une tour médiévale ou d’un portail néo-grec, ainsi que les plantations rares et exotiques qui dessinaient ce "paysage des Lumières" au XVIIIe siècle.
The French landscape painter Hubert Robert’s composition of sculptural and architectural elements... more The French landscape painter Hubert Robert’s composition of sculptural and architectural elements for the garden represents a little-known aspect of his creative practice. Robert’s works for the garden exploit many of the themes that we find in his painted oeuvre – a fascination for physical archaeology and the distortion of the viewer’s sense of history and temporality. While Robert is better known for a number of great landscape commissions done for the royal family and important figures at court in the 1780s, his earlier works, executed for a circle of friends and collectors in the 1770s, which established his career, are relatively unknown. Few of these early garden ‘fabriques’ survived the Revolution and the tumultuous final years of the 18th-century. This article attempts to establish Robert’s authorship of a highly unusual and little known landscape project in the park of the château of La Roche-Guyon – the renovation and transformation of a medieval tower and its integration into a circuit of picturesque landscape promenades. This inventive adaptation of an historic structure in a landscape composition bears all the hallmarks of Robert’s style and his burgeoning fascination for French medieval architecture. The château, the seat of Marie-Louise de La Rochefoucauld-Enville, duchesse d'Enville (1716-1797), Louis Alexandre, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1743-1792), and Louis-Antoine, duc de Chabot (1733-1807), and Elizabeth, duchesse de Chabot (née de La Rochefoucauld-Enville) (1740-1786). Recently, documents and a drawing have come to light that appear to link the Chabots and Robert directly to the renovation of the tower. The author examines the social links between Robert, the Chabots and the La Rochefoucaulds, and other commissions for the family, which exploit these dynasties’s storied links to France’s ancient and mythological past. The author then examines this work in the context of Robert’s contemporary landscape projects and his interest in the themes of archaeology and time.
Books by Gabriel Wick
Méréville: renaissance of a landscape garden, 2018
A short illustrated-publication describing the history and recent evolution of the landscape gard... more A short illustrated-publication describing the history and recent evolution of the landscape gardens of Méréville (Essonne), realized between 1785-1792 by the architect Bélanger and the landscape painter Hubert Robert for the marquis de Laborde.
A Cultural History of Memory in the Eighteenth Century, 2020
Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes
An overview of Hubert Robert's landscape design projects and a synopsis of the exhibition 'Hubert... more An overview of Hubert Robert's landscape design projects and a synopsis of the exhibition 'Hubert Robert et la fabrique des Jardins' at the château of La Roche-Guyon (09/09/17-11/26/17)
A later iteration of this article was published as "The Princesse de Monaco, Hubert Robert and th... more A later iteration of this article was published as "The Princesse de Monaco, Hubert Robert and the invention of the ‘Vieux château’ of Betz", Studies in the History of Gardens & Designed Landscapes (2017)
This essay looks at the design and construction of an elaborate series of false medieval ruins -- the so-called 'Vieux-château' created for the Marie Catherine de Brignole-Sale, Princesse de Monaco (1736-1813) at her domaine of Betz (Oise) between 1782-1789. It considers the role of the landscape painter Hubert Robert and the architect Alexandre-Théodore Brongniart in its design and construction. It proposes that this elaborate medieval pastiche was intended to garner public sympathy after her romantic liaison with Louis V Joseph de Bourbon-Condé, Prince de Condé (1740-1818) had caused her to be expelled from court.
This essay considers how the built landscapes designed by the landscape painter Hubert Robert (17... more This essay considers how the built landscapes designed by the landscape painter Hubert Robert (1733-1808) served to define and legitimize the identities of his aristocratic clients and patrons. It considers the gardens of Ermenonville, Méréville, La Roche-Guyon, Betz and Mauperthuis.
This essay considers the important role played by tombs, contrived historical ruins and artefacts... more This essay considers the important role played by tombs, contrived historical ruins and artefacts in the landscape painter Hubert Robert's (1733-1808) landscape compositions for aristocratic patrons.
This essay forms part of a collective work that examines the history, evolution and usage of the ... more This essay forms part of a collective work that examines the history, evolution and usage of the domain of the Noailles family in Saint-Germain-en-Laye during the 18th century. The essay examines the role played by the landscape painter Hubert Robert (1733-1808) in the transformation of the vast gardens and the former picture gallery of this ducal residence. The gallery was transformed under Robert's guidance into a panoramic trompe-l'oeil representation of a landscape. The essay also looks at the links between this project for the Noailles and that of their kinsmen and political allies, the prince and princesse de Beauvau at their seat, the château du Val, whose gardens were also laid out by Robert.
Ce livre tente de reconstituer, grâce à ses textes et dessins, l’apparence du jardin paysager amé... more Ce livre tente de reconstituer, grâce à ses textes et dessins, l’apparence du jardin paysager aménagé par les La Rochefoucauld et leur cercle à la veille de la Révolution. Le projet du jardin anglais de la Roche-Guyon est marqué par les talents de la duchesse d’Enville, du duc Louis-Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld et du duc et de la duchesse de Chabot, mais aussi part des artistes et politiques comme Hubert Robert, l’abbé Delille, Thomas Jefferson, Condorcet, Turgot, Malesherbes, etc. Ce jardin ayant aujourd’hui en grande partie disparu sous une dense forêt, ce livre a été conçu comme un "guide de ses traces" dans lequel sont exhumés les vestiges de grottes, d’une immense cascade artificielle, d’une tour médiévale ou d’un portail néo-grec, ainsi que les plantations rares et exotiques qui dessinaient ce "paysage des Lumières" au XVIIIe siècle.
The French landscape painter Hubert Robert’s composition of sculptural and architectural elements... more The French landscape painter Hubert Robert’s composition of sculptural and architectural elements for the garden represents a little-known aspect of his creative practice. Robert’s works for the garden exploit many of the themes that we find in his painted oeuvre – a fascination for physical archaeology and the distortion of the viewer’s sense of history and temporality. While Robert is better known for a number of great landscape commissions done for the royal family and important figures at court in the 1780s, his earlier works, executed for a circle of friends and collectors in the 1770s, which established his career, are relatively unknown. Few of these early garden ‘fabriques’ survived the Revolution and the tumultuous final years of the 18th-century. This article attempts to establish Robert’s authorship of a highly unusual and little known landscape project in the park of the château of La Roche-Guyon – the renovation and transformation of a medieval tower and its integration into a circuit of picturesque landscape promenades. This inventive adaptation of an historic structure in a landscape composition bears all the hallmarks of Robert’s style and his burgeoning fascination for French medieval architecture. The château, the seat of Marie-Louise de La Rochefoucauld-Enville, duchesse d'Enville (1716-1797), Louis Alexandre, duc de La Rochefoucauld (1743-1792), and Louis-Antoine, duc de Chabot (1733-1807), and Elizabeth, duchesse de Chabot (née de La Rochefoucauld-Enville) (1740-1786). Recently, documents and a drawing have come to light that appear to link the Chabots and Robert directly to the renovation of the tower. The author examines the social links between Robert, the Chabots and the La Rochefoucaulds, and other commissions for the family, which exploit these dynasties’s storied links to France’s ancient and mythological past. The author then examines this work in the context of Robert’s contemporary landscape projects and his interest in the themes of archaeology and time.
Méréville: renaissance of a landscape garden, 2018
A short illustrated-publication describing the history and recent evolution of the landscape gard... more A short illustrated-publication describing the history and recent evolution of the landscape gardens of Méréville (Essonne), realized between 1785-1792 by the architect Bélanger and the landscape painter Hubert Robert for the marquis de Laborde.